Marilynne Robinson Grabs the Orange for Home

Marilynne Robinson on Wednesday was named winner of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction at a ceremony in London. She won for her third novel, Home (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). "This year's Orange Prize winner has a luminous quality to it that has
drawn all of the judges to a unanimous decision," said Fi Glover, chair of the judging panel. "The profound nature of the writing stood out, as has the ability of the writer to draw the reader into a world of hope, expectation, misunderstanding, love, and kindness." Robinson, who was chosen over finalists Ellen Feldman, Samantha Harvey, Samantha Hunt, Deidre Madden, and Kamila Shamsie, will receive £30,000 (nearly $44,000).

Also on Wednesday, Francesca Kay was named winner of the Orange Award for New Writers for An Equal Stillness (Weidenfeld and Nicolson). Judge Mishal Husain called the novel "a brilliant evocation of an artist struggling to meet the demands of her domestic life." Kay will receive a bursary, or scholarship, of £10,000 (approximately $14,645).